BUSH CHANGES HIS WMD CLAIMS
Ignoring his previous definitive statements, President Bush this week sought
to change the justification for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Before the war, the president said there was "no doubt the Iraqi regime
continues to possess the most lethal weapons ever devised," while Vice
President Cheney said, "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has
weapons of mass destruction...to use against our friends, against our
allies, and against us."
This week, however, in the absence of any evidence of weapons of mass
destruction, Bush said the war was justified not because Iraq had WMD, but
because Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities."
When asked last month about the shift from asserting Iraq "possessed" WMD,
to Iraq merely exploring "WMD-related-program-activities," Bush replied,
"What's the difference?"
Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney made their definitive pre-war
statements repeatedly, using specific language. On chemical weapons, Bush
said before the war, "the regime has produced thousands of tons of chemical
agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas, VX nerve gas" - a claim
since debunked by Bush's own chief weapons inspector, David Kay, who said,
"Iraq did not have a large, ongoing, centrally controlled chemical weapons
program after 1991."
On biological weapons, Bush said before the war that "Iraq has at least
seven mobile factories for the production of biological agents - equipment
mounted on trucks and rails to evade discovery." However, Mr. Kay reported,
"We have not yet been able to corroborate the existence of a mobile
biological weapons production effort." The president also claimed that "Iraq
has a growing fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to
disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas." But the
Washington Post later reported that the vehicles Bush cited "were never
meant to spread toxins" - a fact the U.S. Air Force intelligence service had
shared with the administration.
On nuclear weapons, Bush said before the war that "Iraq could have a nuclear
weapon in less than a year." More famously, in last year's State of the
Union, the president said Iraq "sought significant quantities of uranium
from Africa," and told Americans to fear "a mushroom cloud." Similarly, Vice
President Cheney said "Saddam has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
But Mr. Kay reported in August, "We have not uncovered evidence that Iraq
undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or
produce fissile material." [MisLeader.org]
The price so far: 500+ soldiers, 9000+ Iraqis, our credibility on the world stage, and over 1 Trillion in new debt. Welcome to the Bush Administration, where lies are truth, war is peace, poverty is wealth, and restricting freedom is patriotism. Bring it on!...mj
1:48:29 PM 
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